This print is from a series of four expressionistic etchings that mark Fred Wilson’s first foray into printmaking. Although Wilson is best known as a conceptual artist who creates site-specific installations, these prints differ from his earlier practice, which involved the rearrangement of museum objects and archival documents to reveal hidden histories.

Intrigued by the idea of creating black “spots,” Wilson made these works by dripping etching acid onto copper plates to create small splashes. Relying on a process that introduced the element of chance, each composition in the series varies in its effects, though the dense images suggest microbes under a microscope or, alternatively, cosmological views. Convocation includes speech bubbles containing short phrases spoken by Black characters in novels and plays written by notable White male literary figures such as Herman Melville, William Shakespeare, Arthur Miller, and Norman Mailer. As examples of Wilson’s successful effort to translate his interests in the construction of racial identity into a new medium, these works are a milestone in his artistic practice.

Fred Wilson (American, born 1954), Convocation. Spit-bite aquatint with color aquatint and direct gravure, 2004. Sheet: 30 1/2 × 34 in. (77.5 × 86.4 cm). Carl B. Spitzer Fund, 2004.40.